good morning, and welcome to election day 2012. the candidates have spoken. the fundraising is done. the campaign ads have run and run and run. polling stations across the country are gearing up for today's vote, and those in the wake of hurricane sandy's destructive path are doing the best they can. obama versus romney, democrats versus republican. the world is watching, and now it's your decision, america. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. well, millions of votes have

already been cast and the candidates will do some last-minute politicking early today. in the swing state of ohio, nearly 1.8 million absentee ballots have already been cast. that's up from 2008. in florida nearly 4 point. >> petros: 5 million peop-- 4.5 million people have voted. president obama voted early this year. he'll do some swing state interviews and then play in his traditional election day basketball game and then wait in chicago. mr. romney has added two last-minute campaign stops in ohio. paul ryan will vote and join him in boston. joe biden will vote in delaware before joining him in chicago. tracie pots has the details on the final frantic day of campaigning.

tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, good morning. it may be a frantic day of voting too. this is one of the many polling places soon to open in ohio. take a look at the cincinnati inquirer. the headline, it's all up to us. ohio at the center of the political universe. while this state may, in fact, be important, it wasn't the first to vote. for the first time ever and with its lowest turnout in almost 50 years, a tie this morning in tiny dixville, notch. just after midnight they cast 5 votes for president obama, 5 for governor romney. a few hours south in manchester the governor ends his campaign. >> the last months of our campaign have seen the gathering of strength of a real movement across this country. it's evident in the size of these crowds like this tonight. my goodness.

and i understand that there are a few thousand people outdoors that couldn't get in too. >> reporter: after voting near boston this morning, the governor hit the road again thanking campaign workers in pennsylvania and ohio, two key states he hopes to win. president obama wakes up this morning back home in chicago. he plans to continue an election day tradition. a game of basketball before watching results tonight. last night his final campaign rally ever. in iowa, where he first won four years ago. >> as long as there he is a child anywhere in des moines, anywhere in iowa, anywhere in this country languishing in poverty, barred from opportunity, our work isn't done. our fight for change goes on. >> reporter: the president promised a better tomorrow if elected. that tomorrow may or may not begin today. the polls here in ohio open in

2 1/2 hours. guess what, almost 1/3 of this state, 1.6 million people, have already voted. >> nbc's trace sis pots there for us in cincinnati. tracie, thanks. we turn to mike taihito who is in colorado where the polls show the candidates are in a dead heat. >> counting their running mates, the romney and obama teams have made 42 separate visits to the state. how tight is the race? the polls call it virtually deadlocked, 48-48. good news for republicans. in early voting, which is huge in colorado, 1.7 million votes already cast, more self-identified republicans have gone to the polls than democrats. on the obama side of the ledger, one strategist said they're meeting or exceeding their goals. what both sides agree on if there's no projected winner by

the time the counting starts, this could be key. >> tonight brian williams and our entire political team will be with you all night as election results come in. our special election coverage begins at 7:00 p.m., 6:00 eastern time right here on this nbc station. nbc meteorologist bill karins is in democracy plaza for us. he has your weather channel election day forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> good morning to you, lynn. the big question, when will we know who's going to win the number. the magical 270. that's the number of electoral votes to be elected as the next president of the united states. as the states get announced tonight, those numbers will go up. we'll see who gets there first. it may be tonight, it may be tomorrow morning. let's get to the forecast for this election day. what we're dealing with is that nor'easter still. problems in georgia, north carolina with rain. the heaviest rains are over the atlanta area, chattanooga.

another batch of rain from tallahassee over the gulf. some of that could go from the i-4 corridor. that's a key battleground area in florida. now as far as the forecast is going to go as we advance into election day, watching that light wintery mix. again, it's very light. shouldn't cause too many issues. there's a lot of other great weather. most of our battleground states are looking for mostly sunny to beautiful weather conditions. colorado to virginia, ohio, up to new hampshire should be a very nice day. what about that nor'easter we've been talking about over the last four or five days. i finally have some good news for everyone. it looks like the storm is going to be a little further off the coast. i don't think we're going to see a lot of significant wind damage out of this. we could see some snow in areas where sandy hit. it's very cold out here this morning. it looks like the areas from new jersey up to southern new england could be dealing with snow and rain. that's a look at our nationgtio

forecast. today we'll see plenty of cold temperatures. boston, sunshine, 45. pittsburgh looks nice. ohio, temperature not bad. upper 40s and 50s. a utah, near 70. when will we know tonight? maybe tomorrow. who knows? >> even longer, bill. >> hope not. no longer. >> exactly. you heard it here first. thanks so much. in addition to the white house, we'll take a look at some of the hotly contested senate races across the country. plus, you are looking at nbc's democracy plaza right here in the heart of rockefeller center. you can check us out on the web at nbc news.com/democracy plaza. you're watching "early today."

♪ ♪ ♪ nice listen for you. bruce springstein performing at an obama campaign event in columbus, ohio. in the boss's state of new jersey officials are making sure people can cast their ballots despite the devastation from hurricane sandy. people cast provisional ballots. in florida and key battleground states with reporting, there are reports of robo calls incorrectly telling people they can cast votes over the phone. and in last night's halftime show chris berman interviewed president obama and mitt romney. we begin with mr. romney. >> this campaign process goes on a couple of years. lots of flights, lots of trips. what i found that surprised me

is the more events i did, the more energy i seemed to get. >> in sports it's about winning championships. interesting in politics, it's not winning elections, it's making sure that you're delivering for the folks who sent you. >> speaking of sports, president obama predikded a victory for his chicago bears. people in countries around the world pay a lot more attention to the american presidential election than you might thing. michelle is in london with more on that. michelle, good morning. >> reporter: absolutely, lynn. this has been the big story here. it's all over television. the coverage has been extensive and extremely thorough in newspapers and on the web. you think about it, virtually every major publication outside of the u.s. has a section on its website that is devoted to this election. that's hard for us in the states to have any comparison to. i mean, we just don't devote that kind of attention in

general to another country's political contest. in fact, the times here in london told us that the u.s. election subject is the most clicked in the past month other than their home page and views of it have increased by 500% since august. across the world tonight there will be watch parties. that's pretty impressive considering that when polls close in america it will be well after midnight. here it will be just about midnight. especially at u.s. embassies people will be watching. one british analyst told us it is possible as many brits will be watching these results as watched the results of their own elections. lynn. >> michelle, interesting. thanks so much. the presidential election isn't the only thing happening today. there are some very close sen 2345i9 races happening across the country. >> reporter: the power struggle for control of the u.s. senate runs right through massachusetts where democrats see a big chance to gain ground with harvard

professor and consumer advocate elizabeth warren. >> what i see is lots of enthusiasm, lots of momentum. mostly it's a lot of people coming up to me grabbing my arm saying, girl, you've got to win this. >> reporter: senator scott brown won ted kennedy's seat two years ago. the rare republican who stresses his working with president obama. >> i was named the least partisan senator. i take pride in that. >> reporter: voters are decide 3g 3 senate races and for much of the year they have a shot to take over the three or four seats needed to take over the majority but controversy slowed their momentum. republicans had banked on wins in missouri and indiana until gop candidates todd akin and richard mourdock made comments about rape and pregnancy. >> those two races in particular, the republicans have

done it to themselves. it might cost them control of the senate. >> reporter: in connecticut folks had hoped linda mcmay hon could pull off an upset spending part of her own fortune but polls show her behind and in wisconsin tomorrow any thompson is locked in a nail biter with tammy bald win who could become the first openly gay senator. >> your voices will be heard. >> reporter: when the votes are counted, analysts predict the new senate could be even more narrowly divided than it is now. kelly o'donnell, nbc news, cleveland. the chris christie, barack obama relationship grows closer. plus the cast of the jersey shore talks. snow possibly for the coast. you're watching "early today." the arteries of your dishwasher are constantly clogging up

with grease and lime scale.

use finish dishwasher cleaner every month to keep your machine in sparkling health. for shining results, finish dishwasher cleaner. well, more than a week after sandy's historic assault on the northeast, many residents of new jersey and the injurijersey sho getting their first look. at one low income housing project in brooklyn, new york, many don't have power and heat as they cope with the bitter cold. the unusual alliance formed between new jersey's governor

chris christie and president obama took on yet another dimension monday during a call aboard air force one. the president handed the phone over to christie's fellow new jerseyan, bruce springstein. >> bruce is apparently flying around today with the president on his last day of the campaign. bruce said to me how proud he was of his state and how proud he was of the people of the state and how tough they are and he'll be back to the jersey shore soon. we had a good conversation today and it was great to talk to the president and even better to talk to bruce. >> a big fan there. the cast of mtv's "jersey shore" is planning to help its namesake rebuild. they will be part of a fundraising special on mtv next week. now to your money. u.s. stocks edged higher monday, but what does election day hold on wall street. looking back. the dow gained 3.3% on election day 2008. the dow and s&p have performed

38% better under democrats than republicans. elsewhere, we'll see how they react after the lawsuit was thrown out yesterday hours before trial. tesla jumps 9% as it ramps up its electric see dance. suzuki filed for bankruptcy. nike is in final talks to sell its brand to a private equity firm for $500 million. phillips 66 says its major new york gas refinery will remain idol for two to three weeks for sandy-related repairs. whole frozen turkeys cost only 5 cents more than two years ago. finally, anheuser-busch is asking paramount to remove the budweiser logo from the new movie "flight." washington plays a highly functioning pilot. bill karins has your weather and steven kolber in the

ultimate and on the ultimate voter. plus, some future voters weigh in on the battle for the white house. find out who they picked. you're watching "early today."

the day, today on your nb welcome back to "early today." live at the rink at rockefeller center. democracy plaza. the place to be later tonight for nbc news's coverage of the presidential election. let's talk about your election day forecast. some minor issues in the

southeast with a little bit of rain heading off the southeast coast. a light wintery mix to the north. as far as the nor'easter goes, a little bit of good news. it looks to be going a little further off the coast. we will see a chance of snow in some areas that don't need it. those affected by sandy. lynn, it dmoets look like a devastating storm. a little piece of good news for the people suffering. bill, thanks. on election day eve steven kolber looked at the presidential candidates' last-minute frenzy of campaigning. >> mason, it is election eve. just hours left in the 2012 campaign. both candidates are pulling out all of the stops. >> here's the president's final two days. there will be florida, new hampshire, colorado, ohio, wisconsin, iowa. let me show you the mitt romney schedule. he's trying to go into pennsylvania. it's florida, it's virginia, it's new hampshire. >> so if you live in one of these states, the kolber report is now issuing a severe candidate warning.

be prepared with fresh water and flashlights and, please, if you have a single working class female suburban undecided voter in your home, cover her with plywood. or she could just get sucked up into a vortex of pandering. and this comes to us from wpv news channel 5 in west palm beach, florida, where in nearby jupiter some pint size the students held their own presidential election. students at light house elementary have chosen their president. some voted to go forward with barack obama but the majority decided change was a better fit for the country. mitt romney came out on top by one vote. taking it very seriously there. well, i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. election day should be no problem as far as the weather goes. the temperatures are chilly. 25 in parkton. 38 downtown. you may find some frost on your windshield. a mixture of sun and clouds. high temperatures in the upper 40's and low 50's.

>> thank you. 4:56. >> team coverage before you head to the polls. >> two hours until the polls open in maryland. i have a live report coming up. >> voters get a chance to make their voice heard. >> we're checking on the area roads. roads.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> it will be a little